Council refuses to delay park plan

Any day now, crews with bulldozers and backhoes will begin demolishing old buildings on the Hall property in Cardiff to make way for a park with sports fields eagerly awaited by youth leagues.

The 44-acre park will be west of Interstate 5 and south of the Rite Aid shopping center on Santa Fe Drive.

The Encinitas City Council voted 3-2 Wednesday to award a $181,470 demolition contract to R.B. Holt Inc. despite a last-minute plea from civic activists who wanted to save the 1940s adobe house once owned by the flower grower Robert Hall.

The demolition project — which entails removing the Hall house, 16 other buildings, pavement and concrete slabs — represents the first step in building the park. It will be the largest park in the city. Mayor Dan Dalager said the contractor is expected to begin work within the next week.

Speaking in public comments at the council meeting, local artist Jeanette Shires requested a delay in the project. She wanted time for a group to develop a proposal to use the Hall house for an art center. Encinitas Arts Commissioner Carolyn Cope told the council that the commission supports the idea.

But the majority of council members balked at making last-minute changes to the park design, which already includes five soccer fields that overlap with two baseball fields, as well as a dog park and skate park, framed by a buffer of landscaping, pathways and gardens between the park and neighborhood. Future phases include a teen center and a swimming complex.

Councilman Jerome Stocks said he doesn’t want to delay the project further. The city has been working through the permit process since buying the land nine years ago, fighting off lawsuits and permit challenges from neighbors concerned about traffic, noise and light pollution.

“All of a sudden, now that we’re ready to hit the ‘go’ button, now there’s a ‘Wait, wait, but,’ ” Stocks said. “I want to go with the plan we developed, the plan we approved, the plan we studied, the plan that withstood a legal challenge.”

Residents note that the flower grower was an important part of the town’s history, even though the city does not considered the house historic. It is riddled with lead paint and possibly asbestos, and Stocks said it’s an “attractive nuisance” that increases the city’s liability.

Councilwoman Teresa Barth and Vice Mayor Maggie Houlihan unsuccessfully pushed to save the Hall house. “I don’t see that saving this property in a corner of the site is going to delay anything,” Barth said.